Two Donegal projects have been included in a €1.18 million package of health and wellbeing projects geared towards farmers.
46 projects are included in the programme announced today by Minister Martin Heydon, who says he wants to drive improvements in key safety risks on farms and promote farmer health and wellbeing.
The Donegal projects include a Farm Fitness programme run by the Inishowen Development Partnership and a Farm Safety programme coordinated by Forbairt na Rossan.
Release in full –
Minister Heydon announces €1.18 million in funding for 46 farm safety, health, and wellbeing projects nationwide
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has today announced the awarding of €1.18 million in funding to 46 farm safety, health and wellbeing projects.
Farmer health and wellbeing checks, livestock handling training and tractor driving safety awareness training for children 14 years of age and older are among some of the 46 projects selected to help address farming’s poor safety record while also supporting farmer health and wellbeing.
Announcing the funding today, Minister Heydon said: “I am delighted to make this significant investment which builds on the success of the open call over the last two years in driving improvements in key safety risks on farms and promoting farmer health and wellbeing.”
The funding is being delivered through the Open Call for Farm Safety, Health and Wellbeing Projects which was open to applications earlier this year. This competitive call saw a high volume of applications from across the country.
Welcoming the expansion of the farmer physical and mental health checks to include health behaviour change follow-up conversations, the Minister said: “The farmer physical and mental health checks have proven to be very successful over the past two years with over 5,700 farmer health checks completed since August 2024. This year, to ensure farmers maximise the benefits of their health checks, I am funding behaviour change follow-up conversations facilitated by health professionals. Where appropriate, farmers who avail of health checks will be offered tailored follow-up supports to encourage them to take the appropriate steps to protect their health.”
Commenting on the delivery of farm safety related training courses under the previous open calls, Minister Heydon said: “With over 400 children aged 14 years of age and older having completed tractor driving safety awareness training, I am pleased with the success of the open calls in 2024 and 2025 in educating young people involved in farming about the risks associated with tractors and machinery and best practices when it comes to the safe operation of tractors and machinery. Also, with livestock second only to tractors and machinery when it comes to fatal incidents on farms, the livestock handling training delivered to over 400 farmers in 2025 will make an important contribution to safety when working with livestock.”
The projects are being funded from the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine’s dedicated farm safety budget. Successful projects under the call cover one or more of the following themes: farm safety, farmers’ physical health, farmers’ mental health and wellbeing, farmers’ physical and mental health checks, vision checks, supporting older farmers, tractor driving safety awareness training for children 14 years of age.
